FTI Group one of the leading German Tour Operators, is in search for new investing opportunities in Greece. The Managing Director and “iron lady” of the Group, Mrs. Roula Jouny, traveled in Greece in order to visit the existing hotels and inspect new properties.
During her stay, she spoke exclusively on money-tourism.gr, revealing that the Group is ready to add another property in its portfolio for next season in a popular island destination. Despite the young of her age, she has been awarded many times from international institutions, as a result of her wide experience in multinational companies. As a world citizen, the Managing Director of FTI, who grew up in Lebanon shares her passion for innovation, an ambition proven with her actions and initiatives throughout the Group.
Mrs. Jouny shared her predictions for 2019 and her thoughts on all important issues on Tourism, stressing that Greece consists a big destination, with a high position in FTI’s agenda. This is extremely important for the country, since the German Tour Operator is present in six of the most significant European markets.
Briefly, Mrs. Jouny underlines:
- Total flow of reservations from Germany are 5% down compared to last year.
- Last minute sales have been significantly increased. Problems with Thomas Cook have a negative impact on the market and hopes that there will be resolved.
- There is a negative image on Tourism overall, as a result of other major factors (Brexit, environmental impact of airline industry, good weather in Europe etc.). Greece remains a popular destination, despite the comeback in the market of major players such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunis.
- Airline companies’ bankruptcies in Germany had also a negative impact as a result of seat over-supply.
- FTI is in contact with the banks for future cooperation, considering hotels with high overdue bank debt.
- Crete will be a destination which will grow in the future.
- The “national identity” of hotels and the offer of authentic local experiences plays a key role.
For Greece Mr. Jouny stresses that early bookings were in satisfactory levels until February, as a result of over pricing in Spain, but between February and May there was an acceleration on the reservation flow. Despite this fact, Greece remains a popular destination. Ending, regarding Cyprus, the Group was forced to cancel seats on flights due to lack of demand, as a result of the downgrading of the destination from due to Russian market (leading destination for them).
FTI Group
With its brands, FTI GROUP is the fourth largest Travel Operator in Europe. Among others, FTI Touristik, the last minute operator 5vorFlug, the rental car broker drive FTI, the largest German language tour operator LAL Sprachreisen, and the Destination Management Company Meeting Point International as well as the umbrella brand Meeting Point Hotels with LABRANDA Hotels & Resorts, Design Plus Hotels, Kairaba Hotels & Resorts, Club Sei and Lemon & Soul belong to the GROUP. FTI Cruises bundles the cruise business. Other important distribution channels are the travel shopping channel sonnenklar.TV and the British online B2B provider for hotel bookings, Youtravel.
Founded by FTI Group in September 2015, Meeting Point Hotels is an international hospitality company with a portfolio of five brands comprising more than 70 properties and more than 13,000 rooms, in 11 countries and 4 continents. Company’s portfolio includes LABRANDA Hotels & Resorts with its five sub brands that include Select, Comfort, Balance, Family Star and City, Design Plus Hotels, Kairaba Hotels & Resorts, Club Sei and Lemon & Soul hotels.
Located in privileged locations, Meeting Point Hotels is dedicated to serve guests with hospitality and their demands who seek to combine sun, with sport and cultural activities and live authentic experiences, while discovering the unique character of every destination, throughout a wide variety of dining options and friendly hospitality services . With a wide variety of resorts and hotels in the Canary Islands, Cuba, The Gambia, Morocco, Malta, Italy, Greece to, Croatia, Turkey, Oman and Egypt, guests have the opportunity to get pampered through their brand of choice.
